This article is based on a sermon I presented in October 2022 at Kuna Church of the Nazarene. You can watch this video above (the message begins at minute 22:42) or keep scrolling to read the article.
Returning to the womb…wait, what?
In the Gospel of John, we find Jesus talking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who seems genuinely interested in hearing what Jesus has to say. Nicodemus, it seems, is seriously considering who Jesus is. At some point in their conversation, which occurs late at night, Jesus tells him:
Nicodemus, seemingly confused, asks how a person can return to the womb and be born again. The thought of a grown human being re-entering the womb to be birthed again is not a thought any of us want to entertain for long, right?
Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, seems to be a sincere Jewish ruler who comes to Jesus out of pure motives to hear what Jesus has to say. In our contemporary understanding, Pharisees often get a bad rap, sometimes unfairly. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus had done everything anybody knew to do to gain salvation. The concept of being “born again” was not new to him, but he knew nothing else that could be done to attain salvation.
So, his response to Jesus, more than confusion perhaps, might be more of an exaggerated, hyperbolic statement intended to express something like, “What are you talking about Jesus? I’ve done everything that anybody can do to gain salvation. What else could there possibly be to do other than return to my mother’s womb and literally be born again!”
Jesus, of course, is not talking about physical rebirth. He is speaking of something that happened in the spiritual realm. This new birth is a spiritual birth that is an act of God by the grace of God that is received by the one being reborn.
Nice, neat, straight-line diagrams
Once upon a time ( a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away), I was a math teacher. I started my short-lived, 5-year career in Nyssa, Oregon. Go Bulldogs!
I love statistics. If I were starting university now, I’d be very tempted to go into the field of sports analytics, an area of interest that I find endlessly fascinating. My senior project in university was essentially a sports analytics project before sports analytics was a thing. I was so ahead of my time I missed the race completely!
But that’s a topic for another time.
As an unashamed math guy, I love diagrams. Diagrams are helpful for many reasons, but they can also be deceiving. Let me give you an example:
In diagrams, we use nice, neat, straight lines to show the best and most efficient way to get from A to B. The reality, however, never plays out in nice, neat, straight lines. There are all manner of obstacles—peaks and valleys, progress and regress, and sunshine and rain—between where we are and where we hope to go.
I sat down to do a quick diagram of my life, and it turned out like this….
And that’s just this past week!
Is anybody with me?
Nice, neat, straight-line diagrams can help us explain complex ideas in ways that can be understood. They are helpful as long as we remember that life and people are not always nice….not always neat…. and don’t always go from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible.
Can I get a witness…. an amen?
Our lives—and the lives of the people in our spheres of family, work, school, and neighborhood—are full of ups, downs, twists and turns, and unexpected loop-de-loos. Even so, we will look at a couple of nice, neat, straight-line diagrams today. In doing so, I hope we will all get a better idea of what Jesus is talking about when he says that anyone who has not been born again cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
A nice, neat, straight-line diagram of the Christian spiritual journey
Let’s start with a nice, neat, straight-line diagram of the Christian spiritual journey. Now, to begin this Christian journey, we must meet Jesus. At some point, we must become aware that Jesus exists. If we never come to this point, our journey will never begin. This can happen in many different ways:
Attending a Christian school
Hearing a song on the radio,
Being invited to VBS,
Hearing a friend talk about Jesus over lunch,
Coming to the food pantry at the church,
Receiving clothes from the clothing Closet,
Over-hearing a group of ladies drinking coffee and praying together at a local shop,
1001 other ways.
After we have met Jesus, or at least come to know of him, we begin following from afar. We do not yet believe and have not yet put our trust in him, but we are learning and observing. This phase of following from afar can be very short….or it can continue for years.
This is one reason why our witness to the world, and the way that we live and the way we communicate, is so important. People are watching us and trying to decide if this “Jesus thing” is for real or whether we are just full of hot air.
Justification (a.k.a. “born from above”)
Then, at some point, with the grace of God working in our lives, we decide to put our hope and trust in Christ. This is what we call JUSTIFICATION. That’s the theological-big-word way of saying that we have been born again, born anew, or born from above.
Justification is what John is talking about in 1 John 1:9 –
But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong.
In my particular denominational tribe, we have an Article of Faith that tells us something about justification. It goes something like this—
We believe that justification is the gracious and judicial act of God by which He grants full pardon of all guilt and complete release from the penalty of sins committed and acceptance as righteous….We believe that in this new birth, the believer is “given a distinctively spiritual life, capable of faith, love, and obedience.”
When we are born from above, we become new creatures, new kinds of people with new eyes to see the world as Jesus sees it and the kingdom of God here on earth.
Sanctification (full surrender)
As we continue to grow in faith, knowledge, and Christian maturity, we get to know Christ personally as we walk with him. We move beyond simply knowing about Jesus. Then, at some point, with the grace of God working in our lives, we surrender ourselves to Christ fully. The theological-big-word way of saying that is SANCTIFICATION. Some other phrases you might have heard are Baptism by the Holy Spirit, Christian Perfection, and Purity of Heart.
Romans 6:11-14 gives a glimpse into sanctification—
“In the same way, you also should consider yourselves dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus. So then, don’t let sin rule your body, so that you do what it wants.” Instead, present yourselves to God as people who have been brought back to life from the dead,…Sin will have no power over you, because you aren’t under Law but under grace.”
We also have an Article of Faith that talks about sanctification –
“…sanctification is the work of God which transforms believers into the likeness of Christ“…Entire sanctification means that the believer is “made free from original sin” and becomes entirely devoted to God and “the holy obedience of love made perfect…empowering the believer for life and service.”
This article only looks at a nice, neat, straight-line diagram of the Christian journey. Nobody…or perhaps few people…journey from birth to meeting Jesus, to being born from above, and to entire sanctification without all manner of obstacles getting in the way—peaks and valleys, progress and regress, and sunshine and rain.
In other words, nobody’s journey is a nice, neat, straight line. You're in good company if your life diagram is full of loop-de-loos.
Glorification (end of the journey)
The last point along this life-long journey with Jesus Christ comes at the time of our physical death. The theological-big-word way of saying this is GLORIFICATION or final salvation. At this point, we are made entirely like Christ as we find ourselves in the presence of our Savior.
Look at what Romans 8:18 has to say —
I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us.
So, that’s the journey.
God’s plan and purpose
I can remember many times throughout my life – as a teenager, as a young adult, and just last Wednesday –
“What is God’s plan for me?”
“What is God’s will for my life?”
The answer, I have come to realize, begins with this nice, neat, straight-line diagram. This is God’s plan and purpose for everyone on this earth, including all of us – to meet Jesus, be born from above, be sanctified all the way through our entire being, and once again find ourselves in the presence of our God and Savior.